Dikson. An der Frostgrenze exhibition

A photographic project which was created by the renowned Swiss photographer Beat Schweizer in cooperation with the writer Urs Mannhart

Dikson is an urban locality situated on a headland at the mouth of the Yenisei Gulf on the coast of the Kara Sea. The town is located on the Taymyr Peninsula and on Dikson Island, which are separated by a 1.5 kilometer-wide strait. Although the gulf and the nearby territory was discovered as early as the 18th century, the island got its present name in 1875 after Oscar Dickson, a wealthy Scottish merchant and patron of several geographical expeditions. The first residential houses were built on the island in 1915 and a year later Dikson became the site of the permanent hydro meteorological station.

At present day only a propeller-driven aircraft, which arrives from Norilsk once a week, connects this remote Arctic settlement with population of slightly over 600, with the mainland. The flights are often delayed or cancelled as the weather in the region is notoriously unpleasant throughout the year due to a severe Arctic tundra climate.

In 2013 Schweizer and Mannhart took a journey to Dikson – the northernmost and hard-to-reach settlement in Russia. Their journey to Dikson has resulted in Mannhart’s text and a photographic display Dikson. Frostgrenze which covers everyday life of a town beyond the Arctic Circle.